System and method for remotely accessing cablecard module

ABSTRACT

A system for remotely accessing diagnostic information from an access control module includes a host device. The host device is configured to interface with the access control module over a direct connection to retrieve diagnostic information from the access control module in response to a host query from the host device, and to interface with a network server over an Internet protocol (IP) network to provide the diagnostic information relating to the access control module to the network server in response to a server query to an IP network address of the host device. The access control module is non-addressable in the IP network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of application Ser. No.11/930,532, filed on Oct. 31, 2007, which is hereby incorporated byreference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

As demand for digital entertainment increases, multimedia contentproviders, such as television broadcasters, increasingly face theproblem of identifying and addressing faulty systems. Customerequipment, in particular, presents a challenge in that host devices,which receive and demodulate programming signals and provide interfacefunctionality, are located at the customer's premises. The host devicestypically interface with access control modules, which limit access toprogramming content by enabling encryption/decryption of signals, userauthentication and the like. The access control modules may beimplemented, for example, using a separate cablecard or a built-inmodule providing essentially the same functionality as a cablecard.Sending technicians to customer locations for diagnosing and repairingproblems which may occur in the host devices and/or the access controlmodules is time consuming, expensive and otherwise inefficient.

Presently, various problems occurring at a host device may be remotelydiagnosed, for example, at a cable headend computer, over a TransmissionControl Protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP) network. This isaccomplished, in part, using an IP address of the host device toidentify and contact the host device in order to retrieve associateddata. However, such remote contact is not possible for systems that arenot separately addressable on the network.

For example, the United States has adopted the OPENCABLE™ standard byCable Television Laboratories, Inc. The OPENCABLE™ host middlewareincludes the OPENCABLE™ Application Platform (OCAP) standard, whichsupports bi-directional communications between the host at the customerpremises and the headend computer. Accordingly, diagnostic informationrelating to a number of predetermined parameters may be provided throughthe TCP/IP network using the IP address of the host.

However, the OPENCABLE™ standard includes CABLECARD™ specifications foraccess control modules, which provide content copy protection andcustomer authentication. The access control modules are not directly IPaddressable. Also, although CABLECARD™ supports providing data from anaccess control module, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML) pages,the data may be shown only on the host display (e.g., the customer'stelevision set or monitor). Accordingly, to the extent the HTMLformatted data provides diagnostic information, a technician must bephysically present at the customer site to view the information in orderto detect and address any problems with the access control module.

SUMMARY

In a representative embodiment, a system for remotely accessing datafrom a non-addressable access control module over a communicationsnetwork, includes a host device, which is configured to interface with anetwork server remotely located from the host device and the accesscontrol module. The network server may be included in a cable headend.The host device includes a table populated by information provided bythe access control module in response to a query from the host device.The host device provides at least a portion of the table to the serverthrough the communications network in response to a server query to anetwork address of the host device. The table may be included in amanagement information base (MIB) of the host device.

The communications network may include an Internet Protocol (IP)network, and the network address of the host device may be an IPaddress. The access control module may be a non-IP addressable device.Further, the access control module may include a separate card, withwhich the host device interfaces through a Personal Computer Memory CardInternational Association (PCMCIA) interface. The separate card may beconfigured as a CABLECARD™ according to the OPENCABLE™ standard.

The host device may send the query to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)associated with the information provided by the access control module,the URL being previously provided to the host device in an applicationinformation resource. The information provided by the access controlmodule may be HyperText Markup Language (HTML) formatted.

In another representative embodiment, a system for remotely accessinginformation of a cablecard module configured to control access toprogramming content includes a cable headend computer. The cable headendcomputer is configured to receive an MIB from a host device,corresponding to the cablecard module, over an IP network, in responseto a first query from the headend computer to the host device. The MIBincludes diagnostic information provided by the cablecard module inresponse to a second query from the host device to the cablecard module.

The host device may be an IP addressable device and the cablecard modulemay be a non-IP addressable device. The information provided by thecablecard module may be HTML formatted. The cablecard module may be aCABLECARD™ in accordance with the OPENCABLE™ standard. Also, the MIB maybe Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) formatted.

The headend computer may also parse the diagnostic information providedby the cablecard module for analysis. Also, the system may furtherinclude a display which displays at least a portion of the parsedinformation, and a database which stores at least a portion of theparsed information.

In another representative embodiment, a method for remotely accessinginformation on a cablecard module, configured to provide access controlof programming content, includes querying a host device, associated withthe cablecard module, over an IP network, and receiving data from an MIBof the host device over the IP network in response to the query. The MIBdata includes information provided by the cablecard module in responseto a host query from the host device to the cablecard module. Thereceived cablecard information is parsed for at least one of displayingand storing at least a portion of the cablecard information.

The host device may have an IP address and the cablecard module may haveno IP address, and the MIB may be SNMP formatted. The cablecardinformation may be included in an ocStbHostCCAppInfoEntry of anocStbHostCCAppInfoTable of the SNMP MIB.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present teachings are best understood from the following detaileddescription when read with the accompanying drawing figures. Thefeatures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Wherever practical, likereference numerals refer to like features.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for remotely accessingcablecard information, according to a representative embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a representative data table, accordingto a representative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for remotely accessingcablecard information, according to a representative embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for remotely accessingcablecard information, according to a representative embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation andnot limitation, representative embodiments disclosing specific detailsare set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of thepresent teachings. Descriptions of well-known devices, hardware,software, firmware, methods and systems may be omitted so as to avoidobscuring the description of the example embodiments. Nonetheless, suchhardware, software, firmware, devices, methods and systems that arewithin the purview of one of ordinary skill in the art may be used inaccordance with the representative embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for remotely accessingdata, including diagnostic information, according to a representativeembodiment of the present invention. A cable headend 114, e.g.,including a regional network server, is configured to receive signalshaving multimedia content from various sources, indicated by arepresentative television station 110, over a network 112. The network112 may be any communications network capable of communicating thecontent to the headend 114, including cable, fiber or satellitenetworks, for example. In an embodiment, the network 112 is an IP-basednetwork for communicating digital data content.

The headend 114 may be situated to provide signaling downstream tomultiple customers within a particular geographic region over acommunications network, such as a TCP/IP network 116. In an embodiment,the network 116 is physically implemented over a hybrid fiber coaxial(HFC) network, although other data communication networks, such ascellular networks, satellite networks, coaxial cable networks and thelike, may be implemented without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. The headend 114 includes a computer 115, whichparses and processes information received from a host device 120. Theparsed information may be displayed on a headend display 117 and/orstored in a headend database 119, for example.

Each customer has on-premises equipment for receiving the digitalcontent, indicated in FIG. 1 by the host device 120, which correspondsto a representative customer. The host device 120 may be a digitalmultimedia receiver, such as a digital ready television, a set top box,a digital video disk (DVD) player, or the like. The region serviced bythe headend 114 includes a number of customers, each of whom has acorresponding host, although the structure and operation of only onehost (i.e., the host device 120) is described for purposes ofsimplifying the explanation. The host device 120 is addressable on thenetwork 116 and thus has, for example, an associated IP address.Accordingly, the host device 120 is capable of bi-directionalcommunications with the headend 114 over the network 116. In anembodiment, the host device 120 may be implemented in accordance withOPENCABLE™ Host Device 2.0 Core Functional Requirements,OC-SP-HOST2.0-CFR-I13-070323, and OPENCABLE™ Host Device 2.0 CoreFunctional Requirements, Engineering Change Request (ECR) 1038,HOST2.0-CFR-R-07.1038-1, the contents of each of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

In the depicted embodiment, the host device 120 includes an interface122 to a cablecard module 124, e.g., conforming to the CABLECARD™standard, for providing a conditional access function for the OPENCABLE™host device 120. For example, the cablecard module 124 may includedecryption functionality for decrypting digital content received fromthe headend 114 and user authentication functionality to authenticatethe customer, when necessary. The cablecard module 124 may be aninternal module or a separate card. When the cablecard module 124 is aseparate card, the interface 122 may be a standard Personal ComputerMemory Card International Association (PCMCIA) interface, as identifiedin the OPENCABLE™ standard. The cablecard module 124 is not directlyaddressable remotely on the network 116. In an embodiment, the cablecardmodule 124 may be implemented in accordance with CABLECARD™ Interface2.0 Specification, OC-SP-CCIF2.0-I10-070323, the contents of which isincorporated herein by reference.

The host device 120 is also shown as including a central processing unit(CPU) 121, a memory 125 and a user interface 126. With respect to theuser interface 126, the received digital content may be displayed to thecustomer at a display 128 through the user interface 126. Also,configuration and performance information from the host 124 and/or thecablecard module 124, including diagnostic data, may be viewed at thedisplay 128 through the user interface 126, as needed. Likewise, variouscommands and instructions, including channel and programming selection,authentication data and the like, may be sent and received by the hostdevice 120, for example, through the user interface 126. Such commandsand instructions may be processed by the CPU 121, which may also performvarious programming and signal processing functions, such as digitaltuning, for example.

In an illustrative embodiment, the host device 120 has a Simple NetworkManagement Protocol (SNMP), and thus may include an SNMP ManagementInformation Base (MIB) object populated by host device information,including diagnostic information, and stored in the memory 125. Thestored MIB includes multiple tables of data values corresponding tovarious parameters of the host device 120, as well as parametersretrieved from the cable card module 124, as discussed below.Accordingly, a remote location, such as the headend 114, may access thestored MIB to retrieve the MIB data, including the diagnosticinformation. More particularly, the MIB enables the computer 115 of theheadend 114 to obtain a predetermined list of parameters from the hostdevice 120 through the network 116 in response to a query, which mayincludes, for example, an object identifier (OID) corresponding to MIBdata or a group of MIB data. The computer 115 may therefore query forany specific MIB value. This enables obtaining diagnostic information,troubleshooting and debugging the host device 120 from the headend 114,without having to be physically present at the customer site.

An example of the MIB is defined by the OPENCABLE™ specification, e.g.,OPENCABLE™ Host Device 2.0 Core Functional Requirements,OC-SP-HOST2.0-CFR-I13-070323, and OPENCABLE™ Host Device 2.0 CoreFunctional Requirements, identified above, which provides attributes ofthe host device 120, but not of the cablecard module 124, for example.Therefore, these values are not conventionally accessible through theMIB of the host device 120. Further, the cablecard module 124 does nothave its own MIB because it not directly IP addressable, as discussedabove. The cablecard module 124 does, however, have a man machineinterface (MMI), which enables various values to be displayed on thecustomer display 128, for example, through HTML formatted pages.Therefore, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the HTMLdata is placed into an additional table of the MIB on the host device120, which can be queried, e.g., by the headend 114, for remote accessto the cablecard module 124 information.

The CABLECARD™ Interface (CCIF) 2.0 Specification,OC-SP-CCIF2.0-I10-070323, discussed above, requires the cablecard module124 to support an application information resource, which enables thehost device 120 to query the cablecard module 124 for information on thecurrent state of the cablecard module 124. For example, the applicationinformation resource may define the following information types:

0x00 Conditional access; 0x01 CABLECARD ™ binding informationapplication; 0x02 IP Service; 0x03 Network interface [Society of CableTelecommunications Engineers (SCTE) Standard 55-2]; 0x04 Networkinterface [SCTE Standard 55-1]; 0x05 Copy protection application; 0x06Diagnostic; 0x07 Undesignated; and 0x08 Network interface [Data OverCable Service Interface Specifications (DCSIS) Set-top Gateway (DSG)].

The information is provided to the host device 120 under the control ofthe CPU 121 by the cablecard module 124 in the form of HTML pages, whichcontain labels and values for specific parameters on the cablecardmodule 124. Each HTML page is limited to a maximum of 16 lines of 32characters. Therefore, when the information is longer than 16 lines, themessage on the HTML page may include up to 16 lines of text, plus ahyperlink pointing to an additional HTML page. The host device 120 canthen display the HTML pages, e.g., at the display 128 via the userinterface 126, which may be used for trouble shooting.

In addition, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,the host device 120 populates a table with data from the HTML pages,e.g., which are from the MMI applications of the cablecard module 124.The table containing the information related to the cablecard module 124is included in the SNMP MIB, which is remotely accessible by the headend114. See, e.g., OPENCABLE™ Host Device 2.0 Core Functional Requirements,Engineering Change Request (ECR) 1038, HOST2.0-CFR-R-07.1038-1. The datafrom the HTML pages and/or the MIB may be stored, for example, in thememory 125.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a representative data table of thecablecard module 124, according to a representative embodiment of thepresent invention. The representative cablecard module 124 showsillustrative application information resource data, which is sent to thehost device 120 in response to a query and used to populate a table inthe MIB of the host device 120. As discussed above, the cable headend114 is able to remotely access the HTML data in SNMP from the MIB tableof the host device 120 via the TCP/IP network 116, for example. Thecable headend is then able to effectively retrieve the same applicationinformation resource data provided by the cablecard module 124 to theheadend 114, even though the cablecard module 124 does not have an IPaddress on the network 116.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of the cable headend 114receiving cablecard information from a remote location, according to arepresentative embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is aflowchart illustrating a method of the host device 120 obtaining theinformation from the cablecard and providing the cablecard informationto the remote location, according to a representative embodiment of thepresent invention.

Beginning at step S310 of FIG. 3, the headend 114 (e.g., via thecomputer 115) sends a query to the host device 120 through the network116, requesting information regarding the host device 120, including thecablecard module 124. The query is directed to the IP address of thehost device 120, and may request specific SNMP MIB parameters of thehost device 120 to retrieve diagnostic information relating to thecablecard module 124.

Referring to FIG. 4, the host device 120 receives the query from theheadend 114 at step S410. At step S412, the host device 120 (e.g., viathe CPU 121) queries the cablecard module 124 to retrieve theapplication information resource of the cablecard module 124. Thecablecard module 124 may provide the application information to the hostdevice 120 in an application_info_cnf( ) Application Programming DataUnit (APDU), for example. The host device 120 receives and opens theapplication information resource at step S414. Alternatively, the hostdevice 120 may use cablecard information obtained from an earlierapplication information resource query, although the data would not beas current.

The host device 120 queries the cablecard module 124 at step S416 forspecific data, for example, using the uniform resource locator (URL)relating to the data supplied by the cablecard module 124 in theapplication_info_cnf( ) APDU. The host device 120 may send aserver_query APDU to the cablecard module 124 to request theinformation. In response to the query, the cablecard module 124 sendsthe requested information in an HTML format, which the host device 120receives in step S418. The HTML formatted information may be included ina server_reply APDU. The host device 120 places data from the HTMLformatted information into a table at step S420. For example, the hostdevice 120 may place the HTML data bytes into an ocStbHostCCAppInfoEntryof an ocStbHostCCAppInfoTable in the SNMP MIB of the host device 120.

At step S422, the host device 120 determines whether all of theapplication types associated with the requested cablecard moduleinformation have been reported. For example, the various types ofapplications will be initially identified to the host device 120 in theapplication_info_cnf( ) ADPU received at step S414. When there are stillunreported application types (step S422—YES), the process returns tostep S418, where the host device 120 receives additional information ofa different application type from the cablecard module 124, whichinformation is then entered into the table at step S420.

When it is determined that there are no more unreported applicationtypes (step S422—NO), the host device 120 sends the managementinformation, e.g., in the host device SNMP MIB, to the computer 115 ofthe headend 114 through the network 116 at step S424, which the headend114 receives at step S312 of FIG. 3. An application running on theheadend computer 115 parses the HTML data at step S314 and renders it tothe headend display 117 at step S318. In an embodiment, the applicationmay also store the parsed HTML data in the database 119 at step S320.

Accordingly, the IP addressable host device 120 is used as a proxy forretrieving information, including diagnostic data, from a non-IPaddressable cablecard module 124. Generally, the host device 120 createsan MIB table dedicated to the parameters of the cablecard module 124.The MIB table is populated using HTML formatted information retrievedfrom the cablecard module 124. The HTML formatted information may be thesame information used for HTML pages displayable at the customer display128. The MIB table is remotely accessible to the headend 114 over thenetwork 116.

Although the present teachings have been described in detail withreference to particular embodiments, persons possessing ordinary skillin the art to which the present teachings pertain will appreciate thatvarious modifications and enhancements may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the claims that follow. Also, the variousdevices and methods described herein are included by way of example onlyand not in any limiting sense.

What is claimed:
 1. A system for remotely accessing diagnosticinformation from an access control module, the system comprising: a hostdevice to interface with a network server over an Internet protocol (IP)network, the host device configured to interface with the access controlmodule over a direct connection to retrieve diagnostic information fromthe access control module, regarding a current state of the accesscontrol module, in response to a host query from the host device, and toprovide the diagnostic information relating to the access control moduleto the network server in response to a server query to an IP networkaddress of the host device, wherein the access control module isnon-addressable in the IP network, and wherein the host device sends thehost query to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with thediagnostic information provided by the access control module, the URLbeing previously provided to the host device.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the host device comprises a table populated by the diagnosticinformation from the access control module, at least a portion of thetable being provided to the network server.
 3. The system of claim 2,wherein the table is included in a management information base (MIB) ofthe host device.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the host devicecomprises an interface configured to enable the direct connection to theaccess control module, the interface providing conditional access to theaccess control module.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the interfacecomprises a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association(PCMCIA) interface.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the diagnosticinformation is HyperText Markup Language (HTML) formatted.
 7. A hostdevice comprising: an access control module interface configured toenable conditional access to an access control module connected to thehost device; a network interface configured to enable communication witha cable headend computer via an Internet protocol (IP) network, the hostdevice being addressable on the IP network and the access control modulebeing non-addressable in the IP network; a central processing unit (CPU)configured to retrieve from the access control module diagnosticinformation regarding a current state of the access control module viathe access control module interface, and to provide the diagnosticinformation to the cable headend computer via the network interface andto receive digital content from the cable headend computer via thenetwork interface; and a user interface configured to display thereceived digital content via a display and to display the diagnosticinformation from the access control module via the display, wherein theuser interface is further configured to receive channel selection andauthentication data entered by a user.
 8. A host device comprising: anaccess control module interface configured to enable conditional accessto an access control module connected to the host device; a networkinterface configured to enable communication with a cable headendcomputer via an Internet protocol (IP) network, the host device beingaddressable on the IP network and the access control module beingnon-addressable in the IP network; a central processing unit (CPU)configured to retrieve from the access control module diagnosticinformation regarding a current state of the access control module viathe access control module interface, and to provide the diagnosticinformation to the cable headend computer via the network interface andto receive digital content from the cable headend computer via thenetwork interface; and a memory configured to store the diagnosticinformation retrieved from the access control module.
 9. The host deviceof claim 8, further comprising: a user interface configured to displaythe received digital content via a display.
 10. The host device of claim9, wherein the user interface is further configured to display thediagnostic information from the access control module via the display.11. The host device of claim 8, wherein the access control moduleinterface comprises a Personal Computer Memory Card InternationalAssociation (PCMCIA) interface.
 12. The host device of claim 8, whereinthe diagnostic information is provided to the host device by the accesscontrol module in the form of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) pages.13. A host device comprising: an access control module interfaceconfigured to enable conditional access to an access control moduleconnected to the host device; a network interface configured to enablecommunication with a cable headend computer via an Internet protocol(IP) network, the host device being addressable on the IP network andthe access control module being non-addressable in the IP network; acentral processing unit (CPU) configured to retrieve from the accesscontrol module diagnostic information regarding a current state of theaccess control module via the access control module interface, and toprovide the diagnostic information to the cable headend computer via thenetwork interface and to receive digital content from the cable headendcomputer via the network interface; and a Simple Network ManagementProtocol (SNMP) Management Information Base (MIB) object populated byhost device information comprising a table containing the diagnosticinformation.
 14. A host device comprising: an access control moduleinterface configured to enable conditional access to an access controlmodule connected to the host device; a network interface configured toenable communication with a cable headend computer via an Internetprotocol (IP) network, the host device being addressable on the IPnetwork and the access control module being non-addressable in the IPnetwork; and a central processing unit (CPU) configured to retrieve fromthe access control module diagnostic information regarding a currentstate of the access control module via the access control moduleinterface, and to provide the diagnostic information to the cableheadend computer via the network interface and to receive digitalcontent from the cable headend computer via the network interface,wherein the access control module comprises decryption functionality fordecrypting the digital content received from the cable headend computerand user authentication functionality to authenticate a user.
 15. A hostdevice comprising: an access control module interface configured toenable conditional access to an access control module connected to thehost device; a network interface configured to enable communication witha cable headend computer via an Internet protocol (IP) network, the hostdevice being addressable on the IP network and the access control modulebeing non-addressable in the IP network; and a central processing unit(CPU) configured to retrieve from the access control module diagnosticinformation regarding a current state of the access control module viathe access control module interface, and to provide the diagnosticinformation to the cable headend computer via the network interface andto receive digital content from the cable headend computer via thenetwork interface, wherein the CPU retrieves the diagnostic informationfrom the access control module device in response to a query to aUniform Resource Locator (URL) previously associated with the diagnosticinformation.
 16. The host device of claim 15, wherein the diagnosticinformation is HyperText Markup Language (HTML) formatted.
 17. The hostdevice of claim 15, further comprising: a user interface configured todisplay the received digital content via a display, and to display thediagnostic information from the access control module via the display.18. The host device of claim 15, wherein the access control moduleinterface comprises a Personal Computer Memory Card InternationalAssociation (PCMCIA) interface.
 19. A method for remotely accessingdiagnostic information provided by an access control module connected toa host device, the host device having conditional access to the accesscontrol module, the method comprising: querying the host device for thediagnostic information via an Internet Protocol (IP) network; andretrieving the diagnostic information via the network using the hostdevice as a proxy, wherein the host device is IP-addressable and theaccess control module is non-IP addressable, wherein the diagnosticinformation comprises information on a current state of the accesscontrol module, and wherein retrieving the diagnostic information usingthe host device as a proxy comprises receiving a management informationbase (MIB) table created by the host device, and populated using thediagnostic information retrieved from the access control module.
 20. Themethod of claim 19, wherein the diagnostic information is HyperTextMarkup Language (HTML) formatted.